The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : POWER OF DEMOCRACY

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Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

POWER OF DEMOCRACY

THE TAMIL NADU Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, appears to have drawn the right lessons from the rout of her party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, in the just-concluded Lok Sabha election. Within a week of the declaration of the election results, Ms. Jayalalithaa has announced the withdrawal of most of the controversial policies and actions that had been the focus of the campaign of Opposition parties. To her credit, the Chief Minister responded positively to the powerful message conveyed by the voters against the unpopular measures adopted by the AIADMK Government in the last three years. In one stroke, she removed the income ceiling for those entitled to get essential commodities under the Public Distribution System, restored free power supply to farmers and hut dwellers, revoked punishment imposed on Government employees who had gone on strike, and extended the free bus pass scheme to all students. Ms. Jayalalithaa also announced that the Government would immediately withdraw the large number of defamation cases filed against newspapers and take steps to drop the privilege proceedings in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly against The Hindu and Murasoli. She also promised repeal of the Act against forcible religious conversions, which had provoked widespread protests from minorities and other sections of society who saw in the enactment a threat to the fundamental right to practise and propagate religion.

The hope is that the withdrawal of the defamation cases and the steps to drop privilege proceedings will be followed up by efforts to restore normal, healthy professional relations between the Government and the media. Defamation cases, and also privilege proceedings, have often become tools to intimidate the media in the hands of the intolerant; they have a chilling effect on free expression and criticism. The decision to repeal the Act on conversions is of even greater political significance with Ms. Jayalalithaa using the opportunity to present her Government as a "true friend and champion of minorities." The withdrawal of cases filed against Government employees and political leaders under the Tamil Nadu Essential Services Maintenance Act will be widely welcomed but the Act itself is seen as undemocratic and violative of existing labour laws. Government employees and trade unions will see justice done only if the Act is repealed. Ms. Jayalalithaa has chosen to remain silent on cases filed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The cases against Vaiko and eight other MDMK members must be smoothly withdrawn. Will it be too much to hope that in keeping with the spirit of the rollbacks, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa will abjure the application of POTA in the State? If she does this, Tamil Nadu will set a trend for the rest of India to follow. In any case, the new Government at the Centre is expected to take early steps to have the discredited anti-terrorism law repealed by Parliament.

After initially seeking to deny that the election results were a reflection on the performance of her Government, Ms. Jayalalithaa has done the right thing by addressing the concerns of various sections of the people that found their clearest expression through the Electronic Voting Machines in the May 10 election. Although she has not attributed the wideranging rollbacks to the poll outcome, the turnaround should be celebrated as yet another demonstration of the power of the ballot box, the power of democracy.

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